Warranty - dentist work

brook2jack

Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body, harder even than bone. It is designed to withstand huge variations in temperature, ph , it is subjected to the same sort of pressures that are on an elephants foot , it is subjected to various enzymes, chemicals whilst all the time bathed in liquid.

Any filling is only a second best replacement . So for whatever reason the original tooth has failed and now we expect a filling to take its place, in a tooth weakened by the loss of its original enamel and dentine.A filling that has to be placed in a living breathing, moving human being , with materials that are safe to use.

This is a demanding environment for any material and it is hardly surprising that fillings sometimes fail, due to no fault of the dentist.

The bigger the filling , or the nearer to a biting edge , the more likely it is to fail. This is without patient factors added in e.g. biting fingernails , biting sellotape , little enamel to bond to etc.

If a filling repeatedly comes out then other materials, techniques may be necessary, however a surgery cannot be expected to continually replace for free fillings indefinitely . Even over a year more decay , more wear etc can cause even the best filling to fail.

The NHS monitors , amongst many,many other things, the amount of free replacements , and too many in a year causes big problems for the practice.

welshdent

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

I may be wrong, but a lot of NHS dentists seem to be the less experienced ones who are just doing their stint (as it were) in NHS dentistry before going on to do private work only.

You are. We don't "do stints". This great gravy train of private dentistry doesn't exist either. In wales for example they set up the health inspectorate wales to monitor private dentistry. It was intended to be funded by registration fee by those private dentists. The problem was there aren't enough solely private dentists in wales so they classed any one doing anything outside the NHS as needing to register. That meant anyone that so much as whitened one persons teeth a year as having to register. The reason for shortages is not a lack of NHS dentists per Se. It's because the contract is so poor and restricts dentists and practices to how much work they can do.

welshdent

akkers wrote: »

Yes but there has to be some kind of fallback. As things stand with my friend's practice, they can just do shoddy work and plead any kind of execuse. £53 is a lot of money and it becomes more painful when you are made to dish out £53 every 6 months.

We would flag up on exception reports if we constantly did work that needed replacement all the time. That would mean an investigation. And YES they do check on us.

iammumtoone

I am always amazed at the criticism directed to NHS dentists.

I use one and consider myself very lucky to be on the NHS books, I accept that I might get better service private but appreciate that I am not paying private prices (nowhere near) and think what I do get is very good value.

If your friend is not happy tell them to find a private dentist. It is unfortunate that the filling has fell out and they need to pay again but the cost of two NHS fillings is probably still cheaper than one private. Certainly the overall cost will be a lot lower and there is plenty of scope in there to pay again on the rare occasion and still come out saving against private charges.

teddysmum

iammumtoone wrote: »

I am always amazed at the criticism directed to NHS dentists.

My first one, with the practice I use was terrible and surprise that I expected not to be hurt during a descaling.


I gather, that I wasn't the only one to find his work poor and was glad that he went back to Poland, on holiday, and stayed there. His replacement, a young lady who travels in quite a long way (so sadly may not stay long if she finds work nearer home) , is excellent, as was my previous dentist who lost his premises due to road building and relocated too far away.

justme111

NHS dentist is paid for filling about £60 in the best of cases. Private set their own fees which would be higher. How can you expect to get the same standard of work and materials? Many NHS dentist do great job considering limitations with a very good value for money. They do it at a cost of applying a lot of effort and accepting earning less due to it.
If you can not afford eating in an upmarket restaurant there is no point to complain your local chippy does not serve stakes.

Proxima_Centauri

welshdent wrote: »

You are. We don't "do stints". This great gravy train of private dentistry doesn't exist either. In wales for example they set up the health inspectorate wales to monitor private dentistry. It was intended to be funded by registration fee by those private dentists. The problem was there aren't enough solely private dentists in wales so they classed any one doing anything outside the NHS as needing to register. That meant anyone that so much as whitened one persons teeth a year as having to register. The reason for shortages is not a lack of NHS dentists per Se. It's because the contract is so poor and restricts dentists and practices to how much work they can do.

A very defensive reply there!

NHS dentists are in very short supply where I live, and most will happily admit to be working their way out of the NHS..

welshdent

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

A very defensive reply there!

NHS dentists are in very short supply where I live, and most will happily admit to be working their way out of the NHS..

It isn't defensive it's factual.

Pop_Up_Pirate

akkers wrote: »

Yes but there has to be some kind of fallback. As things stand with my friend's practice, they can just do shoddy work and plead any kind of execuse. £53 is a lot of money and it becomes more painful when you are made to dish out £53 every 6 months.

Why would any dentist do shoddy work? Presumably they want to keep their job.
Besides which, a warranty for dental work can't go on and on because there has to be a measure of patient responsibility.
How does the dentist know that your friend isn't chewing toffee every night for hours on end. or doesn't bother to brush their teeth.
Or perhaps they have some unexplained health problem.

Proxima_Centauri

welshdent wrote: »

It isn't defensive it's factual.

Using loaded phrases like 'gravy train' is opinion, not facts.

I hope akkers friend manages to get their filling sorted out, anyway.